A swashbuckling 78 by NSW discard Nic Maddinson handed the Blues' Futures League team the upper hand against the ACT Comets at Blacktown yesterday, although the day belonged to a Jono Dean century.
The Comets' opening batsman scored 126 off 120 balls, but a lack of support saw the ACT dismissed for 277.
In reply, NSW was 2-163 at stumps on day one courtesy of Maddinson and Phil Jaques (65 not out), who were dropped from the Sheffield Shield team to make way for Phil Hughes and Usman Khawaja.
Comets coach Mark Higgs said Maddinson clearly had a point to prove, but he was helped by a couple of dropped catches and some poor bowling.
''He looked fantastic, he was the pick of them, he didn't have any real weaknesses that we could really target,'' Higgs said of the former Australia A batsman.
Dean got off to a flyer, despite losing his opening partner Sam Miller (2) early, and found some help from a dogged Dean Solway (39).
He brought up his hundred with a massive six before the Comets suffered a middle-order collapse.
''I hit them all right, I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time out there and get a few balls in my zone, which was good, it was a pretty tough wicket,'' Dean said.
His brother Blake then produced some fireworks of his own, belting 50 off 31 balls before his dismissal saw the last three Comets depart for just one run.
''He's always trying to get one better than me obviously,'' Jono said with a laugh. ''He had a better strike rate than me but he had a few balls in the middle early, which is always good and again got a few in his zone.''
Higgs (2-20) struck late to give the Comets some hope in the four-day match.
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